February 4, 2008

Last Saturday we went to Section 6 at Yugong Yishan, Beijing’s only monthly live Hip Hop show. After a set by Beijing Hip Hop’s legendary Yin Tsang, the stage turned into an Open Mic with DJ Wesley behind the decks. Many of Beijing’s Hip Hop greats were in attendance and, along with a few up-and-coming rappers, they delivered some awesome impromptu performances. The mood of the evening was one of inclusion, nobody hogged the mic and everyone was welcome to come up on stage and freestyle.

As soon as the Open Mic started the energy level in the club blew up. The MCs were having a great time and the crowd was with them, reacting to what they liked by dancing and cheering. However…there is always going to be the sucka MC! We are all for expressing yourself, for letting it hang loose, and more power to you if you dance to the beat of a different drum … but some things are just a little crazy. See for yourself.

Dongting (2007-2008) was a research blog on Hip Hop in China. It was a space to share the music and the stories of the Hip Hop artists we encountered, the questions we explored, and the ideas we developed. Dongting is not a chronological history nor is it a comprehensive profile of Hip Hop in China. Rather, it was our personal record of what we found interesting to listen to and pleasing to the ear.

About Angela Steele:

Angela graduated from Stanford University in 2006 with a B.A. with Honors in Cultural & Social Anthropology. Her undergraduate thesis "Zai Beijing: A Cultural Study of Hip Hop" explored the history and social significance of Hip Hop in Beijing, China. From 2005-2006 she worked as a researcher at the Hiphop Archive at Stanford. She was a 2007-2008 Fulbright Scholar and researched the ways in which the production of Hip Hop music in China informs the construction of modern identities and mediates desire.

About Lila Babb:

Lila Babb graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies in 2007. Completing her major a semester early, she spent the Spring of 2007 working at Yunnan Daytop's Drug Rehabilitation and HIV/AIDS Care Center in Kunming, China. In the future she plans to go back to school for Public Health/Nursing with the goal of promoting HIV/AIDS awareness in Chinese and Chinese-American communities. A fan of Hip Hop, Lila worked double-shifts at a bustling New York City restaurant in order to travel alongside Angela as her research partner in exploring and documenting the Chinese Hip Hop scene.